of hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth. This comes in direct response to recommendations issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Hepatitis B Vaccination is an essential safety net for newborns. Since roughly 1991, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended all babies get a dose of the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. Within 10 years of the universal birth dose recommendation being in place, hepatitis B cases among U.S. children ages 6–19 dropped by 68%. Without vaccination, as many as 9 in 10 infants infected with hepatitis B in their first year of life will develop chronic infection that can lead to liver failure and death. The CDC committee that helps set vaccine policy voted Dec. 5 to overturn that decades long policy. Why vaccination begins at birth.